A Gathering of Minds

I titled this post "A Gathering of Minds" because I thought it sounded like an appropriately snobby way to describe a Fulbright pot luck. Arriving at 6, we stayed for at least five hours at Professor Wood's (KU) lovely home - the size of which was proof positive that the senior Fulbrighters receive a much larger stipend than us lowly students. Nearly every Warsaw Fulbrighter made it, including some unexpected additions such as Smichaels, all the way from Poznan. There were pot stickers, sausage, and borscht, and a good time was had by all. I attempted to convince Dara W that she should invite me to the new Dracula-based play. Conversation was great, although, I did not get the opportunity to share with Professor Wood how much his work with technology in Poland reminds me of my senior thesis work on technology in the American West. His discussion really added new depth to the idea of what it means to have new technology. There was a book published (I forget the name, but I read it early in my research) about how people were afraid of electricity initially. It's not that technology is terrifying, it's just that it takes people time to adjust. And they do so quickly. The light show that I talk about in my thesis would be nothing today. Even in Warsaw we have an electric light show. I haven't seen it yet, but this is something I've heard about... So it exists and is now common place.

After the pot luck, Billy, Rachel, Lola, and I all wandered to the trendy area in Mokotow known as Politecknika where we sat at a Czech restaurant and chatted until they pushed us out the door with shots of cherry vodka. All in all, it was an enjoyable night.

Tomorrow, my friend Kristen will come into Poland for the week. So I expect that I'll get a lot of sight seeing done. After all, there's a lot that I have yet to do. Starting with the museum of technology at the Palace of Science and Culture.